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Explain the 3 theories of collective behavior. Give examples

User ArinCool
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The first prime group in collective behavior is the crowd

A crowd is a group, according to theory, where the rationality of each individual is abandoned and a crowd mentality is implemented. This mentality is highly emotional and while at first it was believe that it was about negative emotions such as anger or fear, it has been understood that even positive emotions can carry a crowd. For example, imagine a crowd in a concert that's all carried by the emotions of a song as they are not thinking rationally about the quality of the song.

The second is the public

This is a group different from the crowd insofar that it is not about an emotion but rather about a public issue. Thus, members of the public are not all members of a society. There are as many publics as there are issues in a society. For example, gun advocates and anti-gun advocates are two publics that all try to resolve issues that they see.

The third is the mass

The difference between the mass and the crowd and the public is that the mass is not about the interaction between people but about the way that mass media is used to form masses. The first such medium in history was the printing press. An example of mass collective behavior can be how the media like television is used today to form public opinion.
User Xinrui Ma
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